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6-Year-Old Gives Bone Marrow To Sick Brother

The diagnosis that you have a severe chronic disease can knock a person to their knees and end life as you know it. Imagine getting that diagnosis as a small boy. For 8-year-old Colby Scott, it happened last summer when he found out he had Aplastic Anemia.

6-Year-Old Gives Bone Marrow To Sick Brother

BRIDGEWATER, Maine (WLBZ) -- The diagnosis that you have a severe chronic disease can knock a person to their knees and end life as you know it. Imagine getting that diagnosis as a small boy. For 8-year-old Colby Scott, it happened last summer when he found out he had Aplastic Anemia.

The disease caused his bone marrow to not produce enough red blood cells. Colby's mother Lisa traveled with her son to hospitals in southern Maine and Boston weekly to try to figure out what was going on. As a nursing student, Lisa knew that the diagnoses meant several hardships for her son.

"It's your heart, your children are your heart and to see them suffer it's indescribable," said Lisa.

Doctors told Lisa that the best chance for a bone marrow match for a transplant would be Colby's little brother, Carson, but that even he had a less than 25% chance of being a match. Despite those odds the family got the news in July that Carson and Colby were a match and the transplant procedure was performed at Tufts Medical Center in Boston one month later.

"I want him to be free from germs and I don't want him to get sick," said Carson.

Colby is doing much better since his bone marrow transplant. There's been no more bleeding or bruising like he experienced before the diagnoses, but he's still not allowed to take part in school or any other activities until his immune system gets stronger.

According to the Be The Match Registry, only 1 in 500 U.S. members of the registry will actually go on to donate. If you'd like to join the registry to become a potential donor go to www.bethematch.org.

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